Mitch Richmond scored 27 points and the Sacramento Kings got a
big spark from Billy Owens in the fourth quarter in an 89-79
victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Rookie Michael Stewart had a career-high 13 points to go along
with 13 rebounds for his first NBA double-double and Corliss
Williamson also had 13 points for the Kings, who have won three
of their last four games. Owens had just eight points, but six
came during a pivotal 8-0 run midway through the final period.

"I don't think I took a regular shot tonight, they were all off
the offensive glass," Stewart said. "That's my job, to crash
the boards, to hustle, and that's what I try to do. I don't
know if I'll ever score more than tonight, but the rebounds are
always there. And if I can tap those in, I will."

Tom Gugliotta collected 19 points and a season-high 17 rebounds
for the Timberwolves, but shot just 6-of-22 from the floor.
Stephon Marbury scored 15 points and Kevin Garnett 11 for
Minnesota, which was trying for its first three-game winning
streak of the season.

"The way we played like that, who wants to be in the playoffs,"
Minnesota coach Flip Saunders said. "Not taking anything away
from the Kings, but that's about as bad of a performance as you
could ask. They came out and were much more aggressive. It was
like we were intimidated on the inside against them."

Sacramento opened a 67-63 lead on a jumper by rookie Tariq
Abdul-Wahad early in the fourth quarter. The Wolves got back
within 67-66 after a free throw by Garnett and a layup by
Micheal Williams before Owens took over. He sank an 18-foot
jumper and threw down a dunk to push the lead to 71-66 with 8:36
remaining. After two free throws by Terry Dehere, Owens hit a
deep jumper to cap the spurt and extend the Kings' lead to 75-66
with 7:05 to play.

Sacramento built its largest lead when Stewart followed
Williamson's miss with a dunk to make it 80-70 with 3:47 to go.
Marbury, who was scoreless at halftime, tried to bring Minnesota
back by scoring five straight points on three free throws and a
layup. But Olden Polynice hit a jumper with 2:10 left and
rookie Anthony Johnson dunked to give the Kings an 84-75 cushion
with 1:04 to go.

Richmond sealed the victory by hitting 5-of-6 free throws in the
final 47 seconds.

"We really turned it up on the defensive end," Johnson said.
"Billy Owens and Michael Stewart came up with some big offensive
rebounds, starting in the fourth quarter, and we were able to
sustain our lead. Mitch made the free throws down the stretch
and we were able to pull this out, this was a good win."

Sacramento built a 19-14 lead after Abdul-Wahad's jumper with
3:03 left in the first quarter, but Minnesota scored the final
eight points of the period to open a 22-19 lead. The Wolves had
an 8-0 run in the second and led by as much as 10 at 39-29 after
a free throw by Terry Porter with 2:47 remaining before the
Kings closed within 42-35 at halftime.

Sacramento stormed back in the third behind 10 points from
Richmond. After the Kings took a 51-50 lead with 4:02 left in
the period on Johnson's nine-foot jumper, the lead changed hands
five more times in the period until Johnson's 21-footer with
five seconds remaining made it 61-61 entering the fourth.

Johnson finished with 10 points and six assists and Owens
grabbed eight rebounds for the Kings, who shot 45 percent
(33-of-74) from the field.

Minnesota shot just 33 percent (27-of-82) and held a 54-44
rebounding advantage. Stanley Roberts grabbed 11 boards before
leaving with a sprained left foot.